Stationary circular contact cooler for calcined lime and other materials



Sept. 27, 1966 G. NIEMITZ 3,274,701

STATIONARY CIRCULAR CONTACT COOLER FOR CALCINED LIME AND OTHER MATERIALSFiled March 5, 1964 Gerhard lV/emifz ATTORNEYS United States Patent3,274 701 STATIONARY CIREJULARCONTACT COOLER FOR CALCINED LIME AND OTHERMATELS Gerhard Niemitz, Bronx, N.Y., assignor to Kennedy Van Saun Mfg. &Eng. Corp, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 3, 1964,Ser. No. 349,107 10 Claims. (Cl. 34-464) The present invention relatesto improvements in apparatus for cooling calcined or sintered materials,such as lime, cement, ores and the like as discharged from rotary kilns,for example.

Various types of cooling units have been provided for cooling theforegoing materials and the primary object of the present invention isto provide an improved air contact cooler including a soaking pit forthe hot calcined material to be cooled.

A further object of the invention is to provide a gyratory dischargedevice for discharging the cooled material.

In accordance with the invention, the improved cooler comprises a shellforming a soaking pit for the hot cal cined material, a connectingbatfled cooling structure over which the hot material is adapted tomove, a movable table onto which the cooled material is delivered andmeans for gyrating the table to feed the cooled material away from thecooling zone for discharge from the apparatus.

In a preferred construction, the gyrating table comprises an annular orring-shaped disc supported by a plur ality of rods or posts mounted inan eccentric support supported in a frame for rotation.

The improved apparatus includes other features and structures describedmore in detail hereinafter in connection with the accompanyingdiagrammatic drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view with parts broken away of a coolerconstructed in accordance with the invention, and

FIG. 2 is an enlarged detailed view, partly in section of one of thegyrating supports for the annular discharge disc.

The cooler as shown in FIG. 1 comprises a cylindrical shell 2 ofrefractory material having a top opening 1 for receiving burnt lime, forexample, from a rotary kiln A provided with a known type of end hood B.The cooler is provided with a soaking pit formed by a heat resistingalloy steel shell 4 having a frusto-conical bottom portion. The shell 4is supported in the refractory casing 2 by means of rods 5 and held inspaced relation to the inner wall of the shell 2 by means of spacerguides 6' so that the shell 4 is maintained concentric with theinsulated cooler shell 2.

The soaking pit in the shell 4 is particularly useful for burnt limebecause the heat transfer coefiicient of calcium or magnesium oxides isso low that either a very high temperature difference is necessary inthe kiln, or the heated limestone must be soaked or retained at itsnormal calcining temperature for a long retention time to permit theheat to penetrate from the particle surface to the inner core in orderto completely calcine the calcium or magnesium materials. Thetemperature of the shell of the calcined particles is raisedsufficiently high in the flame zone of the kiln A to store enough heatto complete the calcination of the particles to their core when storedfor some time in the soaking pit of the shell 4. Therefore, it is onlynecessary to store the highly heated particles after discharge from thekiln Without previously removing the heat in the shells of theparticles. This means that no air or very little air should be permittedto pass through the shell 4. A practical solution of the problem isprovided by the apparatus shown in the drawing, in which the calcinedproduct is discharged from the kiln A through the inlet 1 and is storedin the soaking pit chamber 4. The soaked material at the bottom of thechamber 4 discharges through the annular opening 3 along the uppermostof an outwardly sloping series of spaced frusto-conical members 13forming an air cooling zone. Below the lowest member 13, the materialpasses onto a ring-shaped gyrating discharge disc 8, which is located sothat the material flowing between the bottom of the shell 2 and thelowermost cone section 13 rests on the disc 8. The gyrating motion ofthis disc causes the material to be discharged continuously but atvarying locations around the disc through the annular openings 6 and 7.

As the cooled material falls 01f the disc 8 toward the hopper cone 9, itslides therealong and is discharged through an outlet 9 provided with avertical series of conventional type flaps which alternately open andclose in response to the weight of the material thereon. The cooledmaterial finally flows onto a belt conveyor below the outlet 9.

Air for cooling is passed under pressure from a blower C into an annularair space 10 around the bottom of the hopper 9, from which air flowsthrough a plurality of ducts 11 into the lower portion of a cylindricalair distributor 12 having openings 12 through which air flows betweenthe conical sections into the material resting on the disc 8. Thequantity of air flowing through the upper passages 12 is controlled by ashiftable valve or damper means 14 operated through a linkage 15 ofsuitable construction and arrangement. At times it may be necessary tothrottle the air through the upper passages 12' in order to avoid toomuch short circuiting and insufficient cooling.

Some of the air entering through the ducts 11 flows out the bottom ofthe air distributor 12 and around the annular disc 8 and through thematerial occupying the annular zone 6 and 7.

The discharge openings provided at 6 and 7 can be kept large enough topermit discharge of relatively large pieces of the cooled productwithout the possibility of blocking the passageways between the annulardisc 8 and the lower part of the shell 2 and lower conical element 13.The discharge over the outer rim at the point 6 and the inner rim at thepoint 7 provides for the feeding of the material from the cooling zoneover the whole crosssectional area of the cooling bed, thus overcomingthe common difficulty of a stationary heat exchanger, in which portionsof the material do not travel through the cooling zone as fast as otherportions. Therefore, the apparatus of the present invention assures amore uniform cooling of all of the particles of the calcined materialpassed through the cooler. Furthermore, there is no loss of cooling air.

The material in and moving through the annular passageway 3 is intendedto prevent the flow of hot air from the cooling zone into the soakingpit. Furthermore, the soaking shell 4 is spaced from the outer shell 2to provide a passageway. The flow of air through the different parts ofthe apparatus is indicated by arrows. The hot air flowing over the topof the shell 4 and around the upper part of the bed of material Dtherein passes through the opening 1 into the firing end of the kiln Awhere it is utilized as secondary air for the burner or burners normallyextending through the closure B.

The annular disc 8 is adjustably supported on a plurality of heavy rods17 in the manner shown particularly in FIG. 2, the rods being mounted incasings 16 attached to the hopper wall 9 and the bottom wall of the airchamber 10. The upper part of each rod 17 is ballshaped and is seated ina ball socket 18 attached to the 3 bottom of the disc 8. The rod 17 issealed with respect to the upper end of the casing 16 by a flexible seal19.

The rods 17 are used to gyrate the disc 8 for feeding material thereonover its edges into the hopper 9. Accordingly, the central portion ofeach rod carries a ball pivot 24 mounted in a matching concave bearing24' fixed to the casing 16 at about the position of the wall of thehopper 9, or about midway between the socket 18 and a spherical bearingsleeve 19 mounted on the lower end of the rod 17 and seated in amatching, spherically concave, eccentric sleeve 20 which is rotatablysupported in a flanged bearing 21 bolted to the bottom of the airchamber 10. The lower end of each rod 17 is secured to the flange at thelower end of the sleeve 19' by means of long bolts 18' by which thelevel of the disc 8 can be adjusted vertically with respect to theannular opening directly above.

When the eccentric sleeves 20 of all the supporting rods 17 are rotated,the rods are gyrated and transmit a corresponding gyrating motion to theannular disc 8 so that the material thereon is caused to feed 011 theedges into the hopper 9. Various means may be provided for rotating theeccentric sleeves 20 in unison and in a manner necessary to give theplate 8 a gyrating motion. As shown in FIG. 2, the downwardly-projectingflange of the sleeve 20 is provided with an attached gear 22 which isdriven by a ring gear 23, which drives all of the eccentric sleevesdistributed around the annular disc 8. Any suitable means, not shown,may be provided for driving the annular gear 23 at the desired rate.

The annular disc 8 may be strengthened by flanges provided below, asshown, and four or more supporting rods 17 will be provided dependingupon the diameter of the plate 8. The air distributor comprising thecasing 12 and the frusto-oonical elements 13 may be assembled andsupported by any suitable means, such as bars extending out to the maincasing 2. The ducts 11 may be used to position the lower part of the airdistributor, the upper portion of which preferably extends into thelower portion of the shell 4, as illustrated.

It is to be understood that various modifications may be made in detailsof construction and that such modifi cations are intended to be coveredwithin the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a cooler for hot calcined material such as that of lime, cementand the like, including an upright insulated shell having an opening atits upper end for receiving hot calcined material from a kiln, a metalshell located in the upper portion of the insulated shell and spacedfrom its inner surface for receiving said material falling through saidopening and providing a soaking chamber therefor, an air distributorlocated at the lower portion of said metal shell and providing therewithan annular passageway for material to be cooled to flow over the airdistributor, means for supplying air to said distributor, means definingan annular outlet passageway for cooled material at the lower part ofthe air distributor, an annular disc below said outlet passageway forsupporting the material along the distributor, and means for moving saiddisc to feed and discharge cooled material therefrom.

2. A cooler as claimed in claim 1, in which the metal shell providingthe soaking chamber for hot calcined material is made of heat resistingall-0y steel and includes a cylindrical upper portion open at the topand an inwardly sloping portion attached thereto at the bottomterminating adjacent to the air distributor.

3. A cooler as claimed in claim 1, in which the air distributor includesa cylindrical distributor chamber carrying spaced frusto-conical platesextending outwardly therefrom, means for delivering air into saidcylindrical chamber and passageways from said chamber into the spacesbetween said frusto-conical plates.

4. A cooler as claimed in claim 1, in which the lower portion of thecooler includes an inverted conical-shaped hopper for receiving cooledmaterial from said annular disc, and in which said annular disc islocated in the upper portion of said hopper.

5. A cooler as claimed in claim 1, in which the means for moving saidannular disc comprises means for gyrating said disc in a substantiallyhorizontal plane.

6. A cooler as claimed in claim 5, in which the means for gyrating saidannular disc includes a plurality of rods supported below said disc andon which the disc rests, and means for gyrating said rods.

7. A cooler as claimed in claim 4, comprising an air chamber extendingaround the body of the hopper, means for introducing air into said airchamber, and ducts extending from said air chamber to said airdistributor.

8. A cooler as claimed in claim 7, including a circular series of spacedsupports each comprising a rod extending through the air chamber and thehopper to the lower part of the annular disc, and means for adjustingsaid rods vertically for vertically positioning the disc below saidannular outlet passageway.

9. A cooler as claimed in claim 8, including means for gyrating saidrods and the annular disc.

10. A cooler as claimed in claim 1, including a plurality of uprightrods supporting the annular disc and in which the means for moving saiddisc includes an eccentric device associated with the lower portion ofeach rod for gyrating the rod and in turn gyrating the disc, saideccentric device including a rotatable eccentric sleeve and means forrotating said sleeve.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,858,123 10/1958Niems 263-32 2,879,983 3/1959 Sylvest 263-32 3,083,471 4/1963 Huntington34-164 3,092,473 6/1963 Koontz et a1 34-164 FOREIGN PATENTS 253,8196/1924 Great Britain.

FREDERICK L. MATTESON, IR., Primary Examiner.

B. L. ADAMS, Assistant Examiner.

1. IN A COOLER FOR HOT CALCINED MATERIAL SUCH AS THAT OF LIME, CEMENTAND THE LIKE, INCLUDING AN UPRIGHT INSULATED SHELL HAVING AN OPENING ATITS UPPER END FOR RECEIVING HOT CALCINED MATERIAL FROM A KILN, A METALSHELL LOCATED IN THE UPPER PORTION OF THE INSULATED SHELL AND SPACEDFROM ITS INNER SURFACE FOR RECEIVING SAID MATERIAL FALLING THROUGH SAIDOPENING AND PROVIDING A SOAKING CHAMBER THEREFOR, AN AIR DISTRIBUTORLOCATED AT THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID METAL SHELL AND PROVIDING THEREWITHAN ANNULAR PASSAGEWAY FOR MATERIAL TO BE COOLED TO FLOW OVER THE AIRDISTRIBUTOR, MEANS FOR SUPPLYING AIR TO SAID DISTRIBUTOR, MEANS DEFININGAN ANNULAR OUTLET PASSAGEWAY FOR COOLED MATERIAL AT THE LOWER PART OFTHE AIR DISTRIBUTOR, AN ANNULAR DISC BELOW SAID OUTLET PASSAGEWAY FORSUPPORTING THE MATERIAL ALONG THE DISTRIBUTOR, AND MEANS FOR